Update:Halloween 2018 Event and Tutorial Island Improvements
This week sees the release of this year's Halloween event! We are also getting ready for the biggest launch Old School has seen to date - the full release of Mobile! In preparation, we've made some minor changes to Tutorial Island. Everyone knows it's the time of year for a Halloween event, especially Eric, who thinks he's designed a rather good one. His niece and nephew aren't optimistic. They’d likely have been content to go Trick-or-Treating around their neighbourhood, but Eric is determined to show off his creative flair and give the kids a Halloween treat they’ll never forget. Then maybe his family won’t think he's such a boring old fool. Eric's creative flair may turn out to be lacking, but there's no limit to his determination to deliver his Halloween treat. He won't let little matters such as hygiene stand in his way, nor respect for the dead. Meet him outside the church near Rimmington to help him create the Chambers of Eric. Once you've dealt with the consequences – and there'll be consequences alright – you'll be rewarded with a strangely chilling costume to help you stop making friends, along with Eek the Spider who'll be your friend anyway. You’ll also unlock all the prior years' Halloween items, emotes, skin colours, music tracks and the wall kit for your player-owned house. The event will stay open until the game update on Thursday 8th November. No combat is required, so all account builds can participate. Tutorial Island is one of the most nostalgic and iconic features of Old School RuneScape. With the full release of mobile just around the corner, we're expecting a lot of players to pass through the island to join us on the mainland. With this in mind, we’ve worked with the Analytics team to identify points of the island new players are most likely to drop out and used this as our focus for improvements. To hit the balance between keeping the nostalgia of the island intact while streamlining the experience for new players, we've kept the changes small. Survival Section The order players are instructed to complete tasks has been rearranged in the Survival section of the tutorial. Previously, players were asked to chop a tree and light a fire before fishing. Now, they are asked to fish first. This change was made because by the time the player had caught a fish, their first fire had often gone out meaning they had to light a second one. Additionally, players are no longer guaranteed to burn the first Shrimp they catch. While burning food happens commonly in the game, it's not something that the player needs to learn about during the tutorial. Music List During the second cooking section of the tutorial, the player was previously required to open their music list. This section has been removed. While music is an essential part of the game, it isn’t something players must learn about in the tutorial (especially given no tracks are unlocked at this point). Instead, players can explore their music list and discover the succulent beats of songs like Sea Shanty 2 once they reach the mainland. Emotes The Emotes panel is another interface players were required to open during the tutorial. Similary to music, it makes more sense for players to discover these in their own time later in the game as they are not a fundamental mechanic. Because of this, the emotes section has been removed. Other Changes: *Whenever a sidestone flashes, the background now flashes as well as the icon, making the buttons easier to see. *The Combat Section now describes the View Equipment Stats button to make it clear which one is correct. It also flashes as the sidestones do. *Messages which previously required scrolling to read have been condensed so scrolling is no longer needed. *The section teaching the player how to run now highlights the minimap orb and is optional. *Prospecting has been removed from the tutorial as it is not essential but will remain as a feature in game. *Previously, the tutorial furnace required players to use their ores on it. Now it has a left-click option in line with all other furnaces in the game. Alongside the above changes, we've made various tweaks to dialogue and default settings to help make sure the tutorial is the best it can be. Any player who was mid-way through a removed section before this update will find they have been moved a stage forwards or backwards (whichever was most suitable) when they next log in. We'll be working with the Analytics team to monitor these changes and see what impact they have. Depending on the results, we may look to make further changes in future updates. As always, we are keen to hear your feedback on these changes and any future ones. In case you haven't heard, Old School is coming to mobile on October 30th! For all the info you need for the release, see our Full Launch Announcement. There won't be an update next week due to the mobile release, but updates will resume the week after starting with the POH Nexus room! If you haven't already, to play the full mobile version the moment it’s released, make sure to pre-order on the App Store or pre-register on Google Play and be notified the second it goes live! Check out our dedicated news post for full details and what will happen if you already have access to mobile through the beta. If you're playing on Android, then we'd like to thank you for playing Old School RuneScape and contributing its development! If you're enjoying the game, please take a moment to leave us a review on Google Play. *Burying bones while run mode is on no longer causes you to act like you’re in walk mode. *The upgraded Granite maul acts more consistently with the regular. *Players are now able to skip the Barbarian Assault tutorial by speaking to the Captain. *When you need to give Tiadeche a karambwanji, he now takes just one, not your whole stack. *Shooting bone bolts will no longer leave a bone bolt hovering in front of the player. *The leaves of a palm tree in Brimhaven have been reattached to the tree. *Having max Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup favour no longer triggers spam game messages. *Box traps may no longer be placed at Blast Furnace. *Birds nests may now be opened besides the Crafting Guild bank. :Mobile *Free players now have the option to toggle the Store Orb in the Settings menu. *The back button now works on mobile for name changes – allowing you to close the interface. *The tooltip shown when hovering over xp drops can now be seen on mobile. It shows when the box is tapped on and will disappear after a few seconds or when pressed again. Discuss this update on our official forums, the community-led 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. Mods Archie, Ash, Ayiza, Bruno, Curse, Ed, Gambit, Ghost, Kieren, Lenny, Lottie, Mat K, Maz, Munro, Roq, Ry, Stone, Sween, Weath, West & Wolf The Old School Team